Invitation

PROFILE

Composer

Bronislaw Kaper

Lyricist

Paul Francis Webster

Year Written

1950

About Invitation

This song is from the movie of the same name, released in 1952. However, Kaper’s music was originally used two years earlier in an MGM film called A Life of Her Own. As theme song for Invitation, the song became a jazz standard and has been recorded both as a vocal and as an instrumental. Significant recordings include those by Rosemary Clooney, Freddy Cole, and John Coltrane, in addition to Tony Bennett’s 1971 recording.

Lyrics

You and your smile hold strange invitation
Somehow it seems we’ve shared our dreams, but where?
Time after time in a room full of strangers out of the blue
Suddenly you are there

Wherever I go, you’re the glow of temptation
Glancing my way in the grey of the dawn
And always your eyes smile at strange invitation
Then you are gone
Where oh where have you gone?

How long must I stay in a world of illusion
Be where are you,so near so far apart
Hoping you’ll say with a warm invitation
Where have you been, darling come into my heart.